Vegan (or not) Rice Pudding

Vegan (or not) Rice Pudding

Adapted from Jonah Rosenberg by Blue Heron Kitchen

In honor of my Mother, my Grandmothers and my Children

You’ve loved rice pudding from the first jar of Gerber’s you mother cracked open. Many cultures prepare rice for dessert from Asian sticky rice preparations to Italian dessert risottos. The Greeks nail rice pudding with egg yolks and heavy cream. In a pinch, there’s Cozy Shack.

A couple of weeks ago, Martha Rose Shulman's column offered brown rice recipes for health (link is to recipes in the Times). She offered these recipes despite reports of alarmingly high levels of arsenic in most brands of domestic rice (link is to Consumer Reports article) which now require us to limit our intake. Brown rice was the worst offender, with the most arsenic found in the hull. I’m still scratching my head at why, given this horrifying information, she chose to offer us an array of “healthy” brown rice-based meals. 

So you must be wondering why I'm offering you a recipe for rice pudding. Findings were that the levels of arsenic were significantly lower in aromatic rice varietals, such as basmati rice. Basmati, from India is the rice I keep in the house because I cook Indian food; and it's the rice I’ve used in this recipe. 

Beautiful package - a gift from my friend, Rick.

You can use short grain 'risotto' type rice, which is more conventional. Buy the best quality rice you can find. Buy rice from Italy, Greece or India. 

I’m still dumbfounded that brown rice isn’t safe anymore.  

My son, Jonah, is a fine cook. He regularly prepares meals for large groups of friends. Challenged by living in a country where food is much pricier than here in the U.S. (he lives in the U.K.), he came up with this economical, simple, quick and delicious recipe for rice pudding. 

He’s going to be furious that I used almond milk, but tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I’m using my “get out of jail free” card. 

This recipe is lactose-free, dairy-free, vegan, loaded with calcium and comfort. It’s good for your baby, your children, you, your parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. Your call on the dog.

Use unsweetened almond milk. I’ve been using “Silk” brand. An 8 oz. serving provides 450 mg. of calcium (!), it tastes great (when I drink it straight up, I add some stevia) and it has 30 calories per 8 oz. serving. Without running this through a nutritional analysis program, I calculate this dessert at roughly 167 calories per serving. Sweet.

Go legit and substitute whole cow’s milk. You can use 2% milk, but I wouldn’t go lower in fat. (If you do and it's great, please comment and let me know!) I used Nielsen Massey’s Vanilla Bean PASTE. You can find it at Amazon or Williams-Sonoma; and sometimes you can snag it at discount stores like Home Goods.

(Click on me to go to my website)

Please take time today to visit Sandy Hook Promise.org and send loving and caring Mother’s Day wishes to the mothers whose children were senselessly murdered:

http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/

To all who are lucky enough to have your mother: call her today. Stop dissing Hallmark. It was a good idea.

peace and love,

jane

Vegan (or not) Rice Pudding

Equipment: 1 heavy-bottomed 2 to 3 quart saucepan, preferably stainless steel.

Ingredients:

4 cups (960 ml) unsweetened almond milk, almond-coconut milk, cashew milk (or cow’s milk.)

½ cup short grain (high starch), such as Arborio or sushi rice, rinsed under cold water

¼ cup granulated white sugar

4 whole green cardamom pods, slightly cracked open (you can omit these, but the taste is wonderful.)

Rind (without the white pith) of one orange or lemon (Meyer lemon is heaven!)

1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (or scrape seeds from ½ a soft, fresh vanilla bean) or pure vanilla extract will do.

Cinnamon (for serving)

1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or Triple Sec (optional)

Procedure:

Put all ingredients into pot (except optional liqueur) and heat over medium/high flame until it comes to a boil.

Lower flame to medium/low and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon or a spurtle (a wooden tool used to cook oatmeal that you should own if you make oatmeal because it’s brilliant and once you use it, you’ll wonder why you never had one.) often. Cook for about 35 to 40 minutes, until mixture is very thick. It will thicken a bit more as it cools.

If you’re adding liqueur, add it a few minutes before removing the pudding from the flame.

Remove cardamom pods and citrus rind. 

If you like raisins in your rice pudding, plump some - about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup - by pouring hot water over them and letting them sit for several minutes (You can add some liqueur to them too and this would be delicious.) Stir them into the pudding after you've removed it from the stove.

Serve warm, room temperature or chilled. If you’re not vegan, a dollop of whipped cream! If you’re vegan or dairy-free, try some dairy-free topping. 

You don’t need much more than a sprinkle of cinnamon, a spoon and love.

Yield: 4 servings